Te Huna wins the fight, but Men In Black entrance steals the show

Daniel Sankey

James Te Huna channels some Men In Black as he enters Wembley Stadium for his UFC light heavyweight bout against Canadian Ryan Jimmo. Photo: Twitter @jamestehuna

Australian UFC fighter James Te Huna continued his rise up the light heavyweight rankings with a superb comeback victory in London yesterday ... but it was his pre-fight entrance that had fans all over the world talking.

Te Huna (16 wins, 5 losses) and his cornermen belied their tough guy images by performing a choreographed Men In Black tribute dance as they entered a packed Wembley Arena for Te Huna's fight against hard-hitting Canadian Ryan Jimmo.

It was a brave move by Te Huna, given UFC president Dana White's noted dislike of flashy walk-outs — but the crowd of 10,349 fans left no doubt as to their thoughts, with Te Huna getting a massive ovasion as he danced his way to the Octagon.

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Te Huna, who resides and trains in Penrith but originally hails from New Zealand, made a pointed reference to New Zealand's national rugby union team, the All Blacks, when he tweeted later that "the good guys dress in black, remember that".

"We just come out and tried to break it up and have some fun before the battle, and it worked! Everyone loved it, we all had fun ... it was great," Te Huna said after the fight.

Well that's the best walk in iv ever seen at a UFC by James Te Huna coming in to will smith Men in Black!! #Classic

Well that's the best walk in iv ever seen at a UFC by James Te Huna coming in to will smith Men in Black!! #Classic

But it seemed the walkout was doomed to backfire in the first round, with Te Huna barely surviving a brutal Jimmo head kick that sent him crashing to the canvas. Jimmo was quick to mount, unleashing crushing punches and elbows, but Te Huna defended grimly and managed to survive the round.

The second and third rounds were a completely different story as Te Huna's superior wrestling and grappling proved too much for a tiring Jimmo — Te Huna winning a unanimous points decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-28).

"To be honest, I can't even remember how I got on my back (in the first round)," Te Huna said.

"I asked my coach how I got on my back ... I thought he took me down. It wasn't a takedown — he threw a headkick at me and I copped it sweet, and ended up on my back.

"I was that close to being finished and managed to survive."

It was an important victory for Te Huna, whose only loss in six fights in the UFC has come at the hands of light heavyweight title contender Alexander Gustafsson (ranked number three in the UFC). There was little in the betting between the two, with Jimmo coming into the bout on a 17-fight win streak that included a knock-out of the night victory over Australia's Anthony Perosh ... a victory that came just seven seconds into the first round, tying the UFC record for the fastest-ever knock-out.

"You know, I've just put in a lot of hours and hard work in the gym. I've been in that position before, I've been hurt, but I just come out and tried to stay on top and stay dominant. Eventually he started wearing down a bit and gassing a bit, and that's when I took advantage," Te Huna said.

"I definitely want a top 10 guy [next]. No one in particular, just give me a top 10 guy and I'll be happy."

Potential opponents for Te Huna in his next fight could include the likes of former NCAA division one wrestler Phil Davis (ranked number eight in the UFC), The Ultimate Fighter season eight winner Ryan Bader (number 9) or even former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (number seven).

In other fights on the London card, Renan Barao retained the UFC interim bantamweight title with a submission (arm-triangle) victory over Michael McDonald, while Cub Swanson defeated Dustin Poirier via unanimous decision in a bout between the UFC's number six and seven-ranked featherweights, respectively.

30 comments so far

Te Huna is a Kiwi, and don't you forget it boy.

Commenter

bondiboy23

Date and time

February 18, 2013, 11:09AM

You're right ... Te Huna was born in New Zealand, and he is still a proud Kiwi. But given he moved to Australia as a youngster, learned his MMA craft entirely in Australia — and fights for Australia — us Aussies claim him too! Great to see him doing so well in the UFC's light heavyweight division.

Commenter

Daniel Sankey

Date and time

February 18, 2013, 11:15AM

Gee Daniel.. if it looks like a kiwi, sounds like a kiwi (name), supports the AB's... I would be guessing Te Huna is... wait for it... a KIWI

Fighting for Australia? It isn't the Olympics. It is professional ranks and he fights for himself.

Commenter

Eh Bro

Location

The Dole Queue

Date and time

February 18, 2013, 1:34PM

He's a proud Te Kauwhata boy.

Commenter

Chris

Location

Hurtville

Date and time

February 18, 2013, 3:33PM

Aussies at it again te huna is clearly a maori, born and raised in canterbury

Commenter

kpm

Date and time

February 18, 2013, 11:16AM

I agree I never fail to understand this Australian need to "claim him as ours" as an Aussie I find this cringeworthy and a little immature the guy is a Kiwi simple as that.

Oh yeah and good on him I wish him all the best.

What kind of a living can these guys make out of these often brutal bouts anyone know?

Commenter

David Cronenberg

Date and time

February 18, 2013, 11:53AM

Te Huna earned $28,000 for his victory over Jimmo — a $14,000 fight fee plus a $14,000 victory bonus. Jimmo earned $6,000 for his loss. In comparison, unheralded middleweight Tom Watson — who fought on the event's preliminary card, televised on Facebook and Youtube — earned a whopping $112,000. That was comprised of a $6,000 fight fee, a $6,000 win bonus, a $50,000 fight of the night bonus and a $50,000 knock-out of the night bonus. Not bad for less than 10 minutes' work!

The MMA Manifesto website lists light heavyweight champion Jon Jones as the sport's highest earner in 2012, with $865,000 in fight salaries. This does not include endorsements (he has a lucrative deal with Nike, for starters) and other earnings.

Commenter

Daniel Sankey

Date and time

February 18, 2013, 12:20PM

Rubbish money compared to Boxing. Even more so considering the much higher potential for severe injury. Me thinks the owners and promoters do fairly well for not stepping into the cage.

Commenter

Mitch

Location

Sydney

Date and time

February 18, 2013, 1:00PM

David and Mitch, firstly, the idea that MMA is more dangerous than boxing is absurd, given that boxers indisputably sustain more brain damage in fights.Boxers sustain sometimes hundreds more blows to the head in a fight, and anyone who actually knows about fighting can tell you, the gloves do exactly nothing to mitigate brain injury, and in fact lead to higher rates of brain damage, as a fighter can sustain more shots, but at a cost to his long term well being.Add in the fact that boxing has the ridiculously dangerous standing eight count, where a fighter who is concussed is essentially urged to stand up and sustain further concussion injuries (and as any fight doctor will tell you the second concussion is the one that causes the worst damage). A fighter can be stood up in this manner several times a fight, resulting in irreparable brain damage.In MMA fighters sustain much fewer blows of any kind and much fewer to the head. They also have no standing eight count so fights get finished or called off much faster than in boxing. If a guy gets knocked down in MMA, the other fighter will immediately go after him throwing blows. The ref will then wave the fight if the fighter is not defending himself. In boxing he would be separated, stood up and forced to sustain a further beating.In regards to remuneration, top fighters in the UFC get paid millions. Lower level fighters get hundreds of thousands a year, and the bottom ranked tens of thousands.The only difference between this and boxing, is that in boxing the top fighters get millions and millions, while the lower ranked fighters are often paid only hundreds of dollars. In boxing the small fry get almost nothing.

Commenter

Jon

Date and time

February 18, 2013, 1:18PM

Daniel, those listed wages cover only the amounts the UFC is legally obligated to disclose.They also pay locker room bonuses.But the biggest thing those figures miss is that the top level fighters - the champs and top contenders - get a percentage of the pay-per-view revenue.

So GSP for example gets about 8 - 10 million a fight, because he generates huge pay-per-view numbers and gets a big chunk of that money.

And further in regards to boxing, if you take a look at an ESPN or HBO fight night, you'll see that the fighters at the bottom of the card get as little as $500 to fight. The minimum wage for a UFC fighter is $6,000 per fight.

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